Merry Bridgeman
English 1101 – “Language Controversies”
Dr. Hughes
Blog 2

What is Standard English? Does it depend on where one is living? The question Pinker is answering is that there really is not a standard way to speak. Webster’s Dictionary defines Standard English as, “The English that with respect to spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary is substantially uniform though not devoid of regional differences, that is well established by usage in the formal and informal speech and writing of the educated and that is widely recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken and understood.” This form of English makes people seem educated and can be intimidating. Pinker believes that there is no “right” way to speak. Everyone has their own dialect and there is no need to change. No one dialect is grammatically wrong; they just have different words and rules. An example Pinker uses is, “…people in some regions of the United States refer to a certain insect as a dragonfly and people in other regions refer to it as a darning needle…”(pg.28) Dragonfly would be what the majority of the population would say was correct, but could darning needle not be correct as well? Another example is when he is talking to Larry, a man who spoke American Black English, and we see that the only difference is the means by which contractions are used. People tend to judge when they hear someone different from them speak. They automatically jump to conclusions and view their dialect better than others.
Even though Pinker’s articles were written in proper, grammatically correct English, one should not be so quick to call him a hypocrite. Just because he chooses to use this so called Standard English in his writings does not mean that he believes all other modes of speaking are wrong. His argument throughout the article is not that Standard English is wrong but that it’s not the only “right” way to speak. Pinker is writing in this form because he is gearing it toward an audience that would be more accepting of this dialect rather that one written in Black English or slang. He also might have been raised to speak this certain type of English while others might have been taught differently, but he is open and accepting to how language constantly changes. Where as Dalrymple seem to laugh at other dialects in his article, "The Gift of Language."